Commentary by Michael Wade on Leadership, Ethics, Management, and Life

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Acceptance of Problems

If an employee continues to make the same mistake, we might wonder if he or she needs to be removed from the job.

Mistakes seem to be regarded as sins; some are minor while others are cardinal with a large number somewhere in-between.

But what about problems? You can find departments where the same problem keeps resurfacing and yet it is taken as the equivalent of bad weather. An occasional storm moves in and then moves on. As the old line goes, everybody talks about the weather but no one does anything about it; at least nothing of a serious nature. Get an umbrella and muddle through.

Some thoughts:

Are repeated problems seen as routine and thus not worthy of the time to craft a serious solution?

Are they secretly welcomed as an exciting escape from an otherwise boring schedule?

Are they enjoyed because they provide a chance to demonstrate problem solving skills?